MORE than half of French voters want right-wing leader Marine Le Pen to stay out of France’s 2022 presidential race, according to an Ifop poll.

Two-thirds of voters believe Marine Le Pen would 'endanger' democracy if voted into power

The survey also showed that close to two-thirds of French voters think that the hard-right would “endanger” democracy if it was ever voted into power.

The poll for the conservative weekly Le Journal du Dimanche showed that 61 per cent of French people don’t want the eurosceptic politician to run for president in May 2022, up two percentage points from Ifop’s previous poll in September.

Only 39 per cent of voters want the leader of France’s hard-right Front National party to have another shot at winning the presidency, down two points from September.

In addition, the number of people “strongly in favour” of another Le Pen candidacy has gone down four points since September from 22 to 18 per cent, the poll showed.

But Mrs Le Pen’s core support base remains as solid as ever: 91 per cent of respondents who identified themselves as members of the French far-right said that they wanted the conservative lawmaker to take part in the next presidential election.

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Mrs Le Pen has pledged to de-demonise her party and soften her eurosceptic stance

Our goal is power. We were originally a protest party. There should be no doubt now that we can be a ruling party

Marine Le Pen

Most voters, however, believe Mrs Le Pen will join the next race despite her unpopularity: 71 per cent think she will be a presidential candidate in four years’ time, down 10 percentage points from September.

The poll also showed close to two-thirds of French people – 63 per cent – think that the Front National would “endanger democracy in France” if ever voted into power.

Only 37 per cent said the party “does not pose a threat to democracy”.

Mrs Le Pen’s presidential dreams were shattered last May after she lost out to her centrist rival Emmanuel Macron, who won the final round of the French presidential election with more than 60 per cent of the vote.

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Mrs Le Pen has proposed to change the name of her party to Rassemblement National (National Rally)

In the wake of her crushing defeat, the Front National chief pledged to turn the group into a “ruling party,” soften down her eurosceptic stance and de-demonise the party by changing its name to the more neutral “Rassemblement National” (National Rally).

Mrs Le Pen said at a party congress in the northern city of Lille on Sunday: “The Front National name is … for many French people a psychological barrier.

“Our goal is power… We were originally a protest party. There should be no doubt now that we can be a ruling party.”

The Ifop poll of 1,002 people was carried out online between March 8 and March 9.

Marion Le Pen in pictures

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Marion Maréchal-Le Pen, niece of defeated French presidential candidate Marine Le Pen and a National Front lawmaker, announced that she will not run for re-election in the June legislative elections